


Truth Serum

by Antigone2



Series: UsaMamo Week 2020 [2]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: F/M, Truth Serum, pre-reveal, slightly off-canon classic season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25520569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antigone2/pseuds/Antigone2
Summary: Just once Sailor Moon wanted to be on a rooftop alone with Tuxedo Mask when neither of them were injured, panicked, or needed back in the battle.This time was at least two for three.
Relationships: Chiba Mamoru/Tsukino Usagi, Sailor Moon/Tuxedo Mask
Series: UsaMamo Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847353
Comments: 7
Kudos: 64





	Truth Serum

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the UsaMamo Week challenge on Tumblr! (come find me there, I'm idesofnovember).
> 
> The challenge is:
> 
> Day 1 - Silver Millennium (see: Decoy)
> 
> Day 2 - Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask (this fic)
> 
> Day 3 - Usagi and Mamoru
> 
> Day 4 - Crystal Tokyo
> 
> Day 5 - AU
> 
> Day 6 - Free day
> 
> Day 7 - Mix and Match
> 
> Because these have all been written quickly due to the challenge deadline, this has not been beta'ed. However, Floraone did look it over and definitely made Ami sound MUCH more realistic when discussing brain chemistry. Thank you so much, love!
> 
> Remember - some of these are very short! Just snapshots! Please enjoy

Just once Sailor Moon wanted to be on a rooftop alone with Tuxedo Mask when neither of them were injured, panicked, or needed back in the battle.

This time was at least two for three.

The battle was over, the scorched ground where the youma had been was still smoking.

Sailor Mars' complaining echoed even from twenty stories up. The fire senshi had taken a hit before Sailor Moon could destroy the thing - (the youma wasn't a human that needed to be healed - sometimes it wasn't. Sailor Moon didn't know if that made it harder or easier to destroy).

Rei was fine, it was just a scratch along her calf, but Usagi knew she'd be hearing about how it was her fault as soon as she got back to the shrine. Which was why she was in no hurry to leave.

Well, that and the fact that the love of her life, the mysterious Tuxedo Mask, was kneeling not two feet away from her, frantically checking her over for injuries. No, she was in no hurry at all.

The only thing stopping Sailor Moon from being utterly blissed out in a romantic daydream was the fact that Tuxedo Mask had saved her from one of the monsters' syringe-like projectiles and was himself scratched in the upper arm.

In concern, she reached one gloved hand toward the wound, not quite touching it. The layers of fabric from his tuxedo jacket and white shirt were ripped, and a small bit of blood oozed from the cut. "Does it hurt?" she murmured, fully expecting him to pull away and gruffy say it was nothing. She knew that much about him, at least.

Instead, he answered, "Yes, a bit, actually. But I heal fast."

Behind the mask, he seemed just as surprised as she did at the candidness of his answer.

* * *

"Where is that girl anyway?" Sailor Mars huffed, making a face at the cut on her leg while Sailor Mercury scanned her for any deeper injuries.

"Tuxedo Mask rescued her," Sailor Jupiter said, "think they flew off somewhere."

"He's so obsessed with her," Sailor Mars said. "I'm jealous."

Two pairs of eyes turned to her in consternation. "Sailor Mars?" Mercury asked tentatively.

"I mean, I guess I get it? Sure, she's a flake a lot of the time but her powers are truly impressive," Sailor Mars added.

Sailor Jupiter looked positively terrified. It was only after tapping a few keys that Sailor Mercury nodded in understanding.

"Ah," she said, turning off her visor. "A secretion from the youma entered your blood through the cut, and it's acting like a truth serum of sorts."

"Excuse me, what?" Mars demanded. "I don't like my inner feelings being exposed like this." She paused. "Goddammit."

"So, unlike barbiturates that mostly just interact with receptors in the synaptic cleft and slow down neurotransmitter reuptake like most psychoactive pharmaceuticals, this seems to be actually affecting the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in a very specific way, making it literally impossible for your brain to create a lie - combined with reduced hippocampus activity that acts much like a lower mental filter, allowing more verbalization of private thoughts. However, the effects should fade in just an hour or so."

"Well, I'm going to go home and not talk to anyone for an hour," Mars said, hurriedly de-transforming and starting to leave the alley. "Make sure Usagi is okay, I worry about her a lot more than I let on." Then she threw her head up and growled. "SHUT UP, ME!" and stomped off down the street.

* * *

"You should go home and take care of yourself," Sailor Moon said, still eyeing the scratch with concern. Who knew what sort of venom the youma had in those weird needles it had? She wished it'd been her who'd been scratched, rather than him.

"I should," he agreed, sighing a bit at the cut. "But I don't feel terrible."

"You are usually in such a hurry to leave me," Sailor Moon said, with a sad little laugh. "I'm surprised you are sticking around."

He looked at her. "Me, too."

"Why …," she pinched the cuff of his sleeve in her gloved fingers, as close as she dared get to holding his hand. "...wh _y do_ you leave so quickly after every battle?"

"I figure there is no reason for me to stay." He said it so easily, like it was obvious, and the words almost knocked the breath out of her.

How could he be so carelessly cruel?

"Why do you save me all the time then?" she demanded. She'd never asked for him to hurt himself on her behalf, and if the rainbow crystals were all he wanted, why even protect her at all?

"Because you are important," he said. "I'm not sure exactly how I know, but it's one of the precious few certainties I have. You are immensely important to this world."

"To the world," Sailor Moon repeated, dully, dropping his sleeve. Nothing Luna didn't tell her six or seven times a day, usually in a disappointed and nagging tone. "But what about to you?" She said, looking up at him, stepping closer. "Am I important to you?"

"The most important," he managed, hoarsely. "Like I've never experienced. You are in my very veins, Sailor Moon. You've been so since the beginning."

Confused and a bit unnerved, Sailor Moon shook her head, trying to quiet the beat of her heart. "So… is that… good?"

His voice was quiet, but just as intense. "I don't know."

The moment between them was charged, filled with something Sailor Moon wasn't experienced enough to name. She was beginning to suspect her swooning, giggly crush on Tuxedo Mask might be something… sharper. Heavier. More real and more beautiful and far more dangerous.

"Are you our enemy?" Sailor Moon's whisper was less of a question and more of a plea. _Please, please prove me right, because I never for a moment felt anything but utter trust for you._

Through the mask, his eyes met hers and she was shocked by how blue they were. How fathomless. He moistened his lips, and every heartbeat that stretched between them in silence seemed to last a thousand years.

Then he spoke, "I have my own goals and my own mission." It was like the night air crystalized in her lungs, a million sharp edges piercing her heart, and then he continued: "But I would do _anything_ for you, Sailor Moon."

 _If that's true, why won't you just stay with me? Why won't you love me?_ The words were pushing against Sailor Moon's tongue, but she was too frightened of the answer to ask them outloud.

"I should go," Tuxedo Mask said, turning in that graceful, cape-swishing way that always made her breath catch.

"You have to already know my feelings for you!" Sailor Moon called after him, jogging a few steps even as he continued striding away toward the roof edge. "You have to have known I'm in love with you!"

To her shock, he actually turned toward her, his face in shadow, cape billowing in the breeze. "I cannot allow myself to believe that is true," he said, barely above a whisper. The mask hid his eyes, but the emotion in his voice revealed more to her than he ever had.

And he leapt into the night and away from her, leaving Sailor Moon standing silently, against the moonless sky.


End file.
